Excerpts of an Idea Unclear
by StumblesUponThis
Summary: An AU of an AU: What happens if Sheppard's past had changed? What happens when worlds collide? Please read previous notes to understand the story. The title is what the story is, an idea that is not yet unearthed but soon will be. If you are interested please do read on, reviews and criticism are appreciated. Notes first, then stories.
1. Chapter 1

... This story is an **AU of an AU**. An _idea_ that plagued in to my mind every single time I think of the Mass Effect Trilogy. So, its **really not a story** _per se _(yet), but just dribble drabble of my imagination. Forgive me if it doesn't make sense alright?

What happens if this, I mean our universe and the timeline of ours, crashes along with the ME Trilogy's? No, I **don't** mean the_ "a sudden flash and OC gets in the midst of the game"_, I mean the _"what if it all started differently?"_, "what if Sheppard _wasn't_ really Sheppard when it all came to this?", "_what if the Collectors or even the Reapers could travel to different dimensions and abduct even more humans to construct that Reaper?_" etc etc.

But the main idea is this: _"**What happens when you change the Sheppard's history? Instead the hero we all know and love, maybe he started all small, maybe he even had to climb mountains before he even saved the world from Saren."**_

Maybe even new characters shall be put in for more coverage of Commander Sheppard's background.

I'll try to get **'Kale Shappard'** 's back story done as quickly as I can type, but for now please bear with a simple, yet confusing excerpt of my ideas alright? The timeline of the story is set during the time of ME 2, the events of ME 1 will be written in a later chapter, or earlier perhaps, in the form of short back stories and such. But the events of ME 3 will be not written as I do not see relevance in this idea I'm sparking. But that's for a later time.

I'd really love to have some critics and reviews from ME Fans as well as experienced writers out there lurking in the shadows, what do you think of the idea? How do you feel about the idea?

* * *

Also, please note that the traditional options of Sheppard's romance will be **_very different_**; don't be mad, characters will be written _as IC as possible_, and note that it is**_ centered at Sheppard/SurpriseCharacter romance_** and _**how the events of Mass Effect occur in THAT WAY**_. Like I said, if you don't review or give your opinion, I_ have absolutely no idea what I've done wrong or written wrong thus continue to write what you don't like_. (_And I'm **bloody changing** the ending that happened in ME 3. That's for sure. _No offense.)

Disclaimer: I wished I owned the characters. Bioware does though, so.


	2. Chapter 2

**Excerpt 1 : PRE-ME1 Timeline**

Back story : The Origin: Take 1:

Earth, Local Cluster, Milky Way,

November 15th, 2012,

**Kale, 17**

Her ears were ringing painfully, the constant _thud thud thud _pounding in her head like drums as she tried to push her body upwards, only then realizing she coudn't even budge when something really heavy was lying on top of her. She opened her eyes to take a look, _when were her eyes closed anyway_? And nearly screamed: a pale, familiar face was staring at her, eyes blank and glazed, its skin deathly cold where it brushed across hers.

_Drip, drip, drip_ came down the dark droplets of blood frothing from the corpse's mouth, splashing on Kale's horrified face as she struggled to push away the body. _Oh god_, memories of being thrown across the room, the screams of her class mates as they struggled to run from those... _Those things_. _The explosions_.

(_Moments ago, the ground shook violently and Kale assumed it was an earthquake, until she sees a bright flash; and the strange alien like structure suddenly appears out of thin air; then the walls of her class room blew apart.)_

She hastily scrubbed the blood that splashed across her face as the body rolled away from her.

Kale scrambled to her feet and looked around, shaken awake from her stupor. Her classroom - Or what was left of it, was a smoking rubble; bodies strewn haphazardly across the room, familiar faces all gone under soot and debris. A scream pierced through her thoughts and she instantly ducked towards the nearest wall she could find, peeking slightly through the cracks.

"Please! No! I want to go home! I just -" Kale's eyes widened at the crying girl's face, that was Kaylin! She cursed inwardly, how was she going to play the hero now? She wasn't about to charge in blindly, having no experience in combat and weapons as it is, she wasn't comfortable about going toe to toe with that _glowy-eyed_ alien thing now was she?

Kaylin screamed even louder. Kale hissed in frustration, she_ was_. And then she was going to die embarrassingly along with her friend. She silently prayed that the death would be quick and crawled towards the nearest dead body she could find, dragging it across the room; she kicked the body through the doors with a loud bang, hoping it would be enough of a distraction. Kale walked quickly towards her hiding place and plastered herself on to the wall, trying to steady her breathing when she heard one of the aliens mutter a jumble of gibberish.

She peeked at one of the cracks, the one holding her friend was gesturing towards her direction, ordering the other alien to inspect. Well, she grasped the scissors on the floor with clammy fingers, this was going to suck.

The alien burst in to the room and Kale charged at it, taking its surprised moment by thrusting the pair of scissors deep in the creature's mouth, _which was just an expanse of teeth and pink flesh ohgodthisisgrossI'mgoingtodie;_ where it gurgled and spewed foul smelling yellow liquid. The alien tried to fling her off and Kale kicked the alien hard, causing it to drop its gun with a loud clatter.

_Shit_. Now the other alien was going to come.

She scrambled to get the gun, it was heavy and since she played gun-related video games, firing a gun was easy, right? Kale wasn't at all ready from the knock back the gun produced when she pulled the trigger, she nearly lost her balance; a beam of light flashed and the alien gurgled once more, dropping to its knees as it dell dead due to the hole in its body.

The other alien burst through the doorway, shouting gibberish as Kaylin screamed and tried to twist away from its grasp. "Oh for, Kaylin, _stop screaming and just **duck your head**_!" Kale screamed back at the girl, who simply looked at the other with shock as she followed Kale's instructions with a numb nod. Kale winced at her throbbing arm as she fired quickly, the gun's punch still unfamiliar and the other alien simply sprawled on to the floor with a thump.

She snapped her head towards the direction of running footsteps; company. "Kaylin, we don't have time, grab the other gun and let's get out of here," The other girl nodded frantically and took the alien's gun, grimacing at the slight sheen of yellow slime across it. "We can't go out through the hallway! I saw more of them!" Kaylin said, wide eyes darting around the room as the sound drew close.

Kale looked out at the hole, which led out to the back of school. "We'll climb." Kaylin looked pale.

* * *

Kale nearly slipped, the loose stone under her feet gave away as she tried to scale the school's nearly demolished wall. She was shaking with adrenaline and fear, but she couldn't stop, not when they were dangling three stories high, and definitely not when homicidal aliens were trying to find them.

"Stop, stop, _stop_!" She whsipered, waving her hand to signal her friend to stop moving. Kale heard soft cries and moans from the level below, a couple of boys and girls from the younger grades were probably stuck in there; Kaylin glared at her as if she knew what Kale was thinking, and hissed out her obvious disagreement.

"_No way_, we can't save them _now_! We'd get ourselves _killed_!" True, but still. Kale narrowed her eyes at her.

"Oh?_ I _could've gotten killed when I decided to save_ you_, _you bloody ungrateful girl_. Now hold this," she handed the gun to Kaylin, who simply huffed and didn't retort anymore, "now I'm going to drop myself on the lower edge, and when I signal you to throw the gun, _throw it_." The girl nodded reluctantly and Kale dangled herself quickly as she could, toes reaching the edge where she balanced herself enough to crouch behind the wall.

Five girls and four boys; one of the boys was injured too, his leg obviously blown apart from the rest of his body from the blast of the explosion. No aliens in sight, the doors leading to the hallway were blocked from the rubble, leaving no way out for the group of students who were obviously too frightened to move.

Kaylin was keeping watch above her, eyes darting wildly around her as she gripped the guns tight, lips pursed with worry as her friend went to play hero. Someone was watching them, the feeling making the small hairs at the back of her neck rise, this wasn't good. "Kale!_ Kale_!" she whispered urgently, she couldn't see Kale's face, but a small tap below her signaled,

_What?_

"Someone's watching!"

Double tap: _Where?_

Kaylin scanned the area as carefully as one with glasses could manage, finally noticing blue and white markings through the trees across their school, a pair sharp blue eyes that eerily tracked their every move. "Trees!"

The taps progressed in to five: _Get down here._

* * *

"Can you move?" Kale asked softly as she shifted the boy, who bit his lip in pain as he nodded. She threw his arm over hers and lifted him, wincing at the pained whimpers the boy emitted. "What's your name?"

"J-Jameson Thoms." He gasped out, eyes screwed tightly shut as sharp pain lanced through his body.

Kale glanced at the others, the others were alright with minor injuries and besides being slightly shaken, they didn't fuss one bit when they were ordered to climb out of the wall and on to the ledge. Kaylin was trying to calm them down.

"Alright Jameson, I need you to work with me here; take the table leg and use it as a crutch, we're gonna' take baby steps towards the wall, alright?" The boy was exhausted and pale from the blood loss, but he managed a weak nod. "That's it..." She held the Jameson's hip firmly as she guided him towards the window, encouraging the boy to steady himself as she and Kaylin carried his body over with the help of another student.

All of them unaware of the eyes that trained upon them.

* * *

**Garrus, 21**

Garrus Valkarian noted the band of young humans from a distance with interest, but paid more attention the two older females that escaped the Collectors earlier before.

He couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was obvious the two females knew he was watching them.

_'Vakarian, this is Nazzar here. What do you see?' _He nearly fell from his hiding spot, cursing loudly as a static filled chuckle sounded through his earpiece. Bastard.

"Yeah, _real funny_, Naz. All I see is dead humans and rampaging souless Collectors." He said dryly whilst ignoring his team mate's obvious laughter through his earpiece, Garrus cast another glance at the human group. Only realizing they had gone some where else; the turian sighed, leaving his hiding place as he went off to search for the stragglers. He wasn't worried; _god, no_, he was just curious on how they'd end up.

It's not every day when you go traveling through dimensions investigating the Collector's movement, you see humans that were _alive_ and on the run.

* * *

"Stop." Kale said tiredly and the group stilled, exhaustion etched deep on their faces as fear of being caught and the lack of rest effected them. But they were obviously slowing down. "We can't afford to rest, not until we're out of this place," she said and held up a hand to hush the protests from the younger students, "_listen_: if the aliens catch us like this, we're _as good as dead_ and we've only got _two_ guns. So, we split.

Kaylin can lead the the first group, Jameson will be carried across along with the girls; I'll take the rest and we'll go on the second round. Clear?" The students could only nod, uneasy and reluctant but desperate enough to comply.

The first group quickly crossed over towards the school's fence, Jameson being the first to be carried over as well as Kaylin. The other girls quickly climbed over as well, until a rather unlucky girl got shot in the face, her lower jaw remaining as the aliens spotted them.

"_Get down!_" Kale screamed, running out of her cover as she threw the other gun towards Kaylin, who fired at the aliens who were gathering at the rooftops. Her face was deathly pale as the other girls sobbed for their friend. Kale ducked an incoming shot from an alien who emerged from the other side of the building and returned fire, griting her teeth against the heavy pressure as the gun knocked back towards her.

A faint whizzing sound made Kale look up, she could see it: a gleaming missile sailing across the sky.

She pushed the boy beside her on to the ground, and the sky became bright like the bloody fourth of July.

_**"Kale!"**_Kaylin was really noisy though, who'd knew the quiet girl she befriended could be such a loud screamer.

And the world turned black.

* * *

_"Do you think-"_

_"Is-she?"_

_"Oh god, her chest..."_

_"Brain function intact, heart rate slow, pupils dilated..."_

_"Dammit salarian! Just slap on the medi-gel will you?"_

_"I am trying! Keep her body **still**! I can't do this with her struggling!"_

_"Kale..."_

_"Calm down, kid."_

"Hurts," she rasped out, she felt like she was suffocating; so many hands were pinning her down, so many voices. She felt disoriented, everything hurt like a motherfucker- She gave a broken whimper when she felt painful pressure being pressed down on her chest.

"I know, kid. But stay still, it'll all be over." the voice was deep, rumbling and unfamiliar. Who was that?

"Shh, Kale, it's okay." Oh, Kaylin's voice.

"Her heart rate is steady now, blood pressure not so high anymore too." An amphibian like creature filled her view, fingers prodding gently at her face. Stop that, it _hurts_, godammit.

"The boy?..." She doesn't even know his name.

"The one you smothered on the ground? He's fine." Jameson's voice, thank god he's okay.

"We need to move her to my ship, its the only place where I have my medi-tools."

What ship?

Kaylin's alarmed voice made her want to sit up, "How do we know you're even trying to help-", the deeper voice cut through her words, as dry as the Sahara desert, "My campsite doesn't allow any contact with humans and we kill anyone in sight, so its a no-go; and _unless_ you have somewhere better in mind, do tell."

The amphibian like creature spoke again, it sounded irritated. "Can we please move on? I'd like to perform the surgery on the human before she _bleeds to death_." A sharp prick at the crook of her arm, and Kale's world turned hazy and dark again.

* * *

**Kaylin, 17**

She pushed up her glasses nervously, the... _Salarian_ and the weirdly angled alien had been in that room for almost an hour now. It was eerily quiet, her hands felt cold and clammy.

Kaylin closed her eyes and shudered at the horrifying memory when she rushed over to the still form of her friend, nearly shrieking in hysteria when she saw the burns that showed on her friend's charred chest. She even retched, after they carried her to the ship, Jameson putting a comforting hand on her shoulder even when his own body was weak and hurting as well.

Why would this happen to them? Why now? Why here?

So many questions, so many answers. Kaylin didn't voice them, instead she leaned against the cool metal walls of the alien's ship and prayed;

_Please._

* * *

**Kale, 17  
**

****Kale felt like she was floating in thin air, head fuzzy and airy at the same time as she tried to open her eyes. She winced at the glare of fluorescent lights. A sudden frisson of sharp fear ran down her spine when she realized she wasn't in the school anymore, her widened eyes took in her surroundings: it looked like a sick bay yet it wasn't, advanced looking machinery covered the whole place like one of those Sci-Fi movies her brother loved.

Where _was_ she?

The doors across the room slid open with a hiss, and a bird-like alien passed through them, looking at her with an expression she interpreted as amusement and relief. "Er... _Huh_. Never thought you'd actually make it, you're a tough human." it mused, and the familiarity of its voice rang a bell in Kale's head. "You're the one that helped," it wasn't a question. The alien smiled, well, she think it smiled.

"Well, I did all the heavy lifting; the salarian doctor did most of the meaty bits and your friend did most of the screaming. But I'd understand why she needed to scream though," his mandibles clicked, "it didn't look pretty."

Kale let out a breathy laugh, though it did hurt her chest, so she refrained from outright laughter. She looked at her down at her body and stared blankly, her chest was bandaged- no, that wasn't it, it was _flat_. Flat and had an unappealing shade of pink that reminded her of that alien's mouth. And painful.

"Well, if it's any consolation, on my planet scars like that are... Quite respectable?" She sighed ruefully and smiled weakly at the alien's awkward try of comfort; it hurts and maybe it still shocks her a little, but crying over spilled milk won't help her bring back her chest or fade out those scars. "Thanks... For helping..." The alien snorted, "Garrus Vakarian. And it _was_ for the curiosity and my secret 'conscious for justice'. You seemed interesting enough to help, so... Ye-"

"Ah, the human is awake, how are you feeling?" The 'salarian' doctor walked in with Kaylin and a hobbling Jameson in tow, injecting Kale with some sort of antibiotic as he checked up on her. This was so surreal, aliens talking and abducting humans- "Wait, _wait_," she pushed the hands away, "why are you all here? How do we know if _you're_ not like the previous ones that were abducting humans?" The salarian doctor and the other alien looked resigned.

* * *

"How do we even start?" Garrus mused.

"I think I'll give the humans a brief summary on the current events," the salarian doctor said, gesturing the others to sit on the other sick beds. "In the year of 2171, colonies of different races in our galaxy have suddenly been missing, though not in great numbers, it piqued the Council's interests as well as the military divisions of each race,"

"Like C-Sec Investigations' Division and like this guy in the Salarian Special Tasks Group," Garrus added.

"Yes, and leads have found that it was the mythical beings in our galaxy's dimension we call, 'The Collectors'-" Jameson nearly laughed out loud but was silenced at the doctor's stern glare, "t_he Collectors_ are an alien race unknown to all of us, though their motives are also unknown, they have a device that can jump to different dimensions. Such as yours, an Earth unlike ours yet alike as well. Excluding advanced technology and other alien races.

We, the SSG and the C-Sec are working together as you can see right now, to investigate the ulterior motive of the Collectors, we traveled to what most would call a paradoxical time rifts, or rather, alternate dimensions using what little source of energy we 'borrowed' from Collector technology,"

"Thus, time travel in light years and sight seeing. For a while though, the time rift only opens up once in a _very long time_." Garrus finished, feeling a tad bit uncomfortable when three pairs of eyes stared at him.

"But," the salarian added hastily to break the silence, "you do not need to worry for if my calculations are correct, the Collectors will soon return after two more days, for the time rift closes very soon, and will not be opened for another light year or so." Kaylin glared at the doctor, "That isn't helping, you know." She snapped while Jameson just fiddled with the hem of his torn shirt.

_"Vakarian, do you copy?"_ The sudden sound made them all jump. Garrus looked apologetic. He tapped his bracer, which suddenly glowed as he spoke to it, "Yeah, I copy. I'm with one of the SSG medics, says he found something interesting."

"_Alright. Listen, there's- Look-!_" A sudden shrill shriek emitted from the bracer's speakers made the whole group cover their ears as the ground shook violently under their feet. "What the-? Naz? _Naz_?" The bracer's glow dimmed and there was no reply. The alien then growled a curse and yelled at the doctor to get the ship up and running. Kaylin looked alarmed at this.

"W-What? _We're following them_?" Kale wanted to smack some sense in to the girl's head as she steadied herself when the ship lurched. "Kaylin, would you rather we stay here_ where an alien just tried to abduct you_?" The other girl flushed and retorted angrily, "I'm not that eager to leave my home and my family, you-" She tumbled on to the floor with a sudden crash and Jameson just looked sick as the ship started to shake.

Kale crawled out of the bed and balanced herself as much as she could, ignoring the pain in her chest as she looked out at one of the windows, she blanched at the sight:

The school building was crumbling down, some aliens crushed as the sudden appearance of a tear in sky sucked the surrounding air violently; there were even humans at the site, screaming and crying as they tried to escape. She reached the cockpit with wobbling legs and yelled at the two aliens who were frantically trying to get the ship as high as they can. "Garrus! Doctor! _What's going on_?" The doctor's webbed fingers were quick and precise as the clicked and turned the assortment of buttons on the ship, his voice was one with utmost confusion and frustration,

"_I do not know_! The time rift isn't supposed to be triggered _now_! _It's impossible_!" Garrus shoved her in the back seat behind the pilot's and gestured roughly towards the tear in the sky. "See that? _That's_ the time rift! If we miss it, we get _stuck for light years_, and my site was compromised so they're evacuating as we're wasting time talking- **_Hit the hyper-drive, Doc__!_**"

"_**M'aalkim**_-! Hang on!" The doctor punched a few more buttons and they were off, the sky closer and the ground farther as they flew with a flash of blinding blue light.

* * *

**A/N: I'll edit it later and add a few more lines (_I wasn't satisfied with this one, it looked so much better in my head_) any typos and grammar mistakes are all mine for the taking; English isn't my mother language, so do correct me in places that I am wrong.**

**Please read the previous entry again if you are confused. Or maybe ask questions that are more specific and not too general alright?**

**Thanks for reading, I hope you find this interesting enough to give your reviews and comments.**

**The time line is sorta confusing atm, but I hope you can understand alil' bit after that long explanation in the doctor's words.  
**

**(Notes: The language I used for that Salarian Doctor was Albanian, since I don't really think that English is their mother tongue, I decided to change the languages a bit. M'aalkim, or Mallkim, is 'damn' in Albanian.)  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Excerpt 2 - ME2 TIMELINE  
**

**Lattesh, **

**Pheonix Massing, Chomos System,**

**Year 2185, 31st JAN.**

The shuttle whirred and shook as they landed, for the winds were harsh and unforgiving when they finally reached one of the unknown anomalies EDI picked up: an abandoned Cerberus laboratory in Lattesh, the facility expanding widely across the planet's cold deserted land; its white coated titanium walls dull with frost, Cerberus's insignia buried under the grey mush of volcanic ash and snow.

Garrus looked at the abandoned site with unease, his mandibles clicking with worry as his claws toyed with his sniper rifle; a nervous tick he could never tamper down. "I don't like this one bit Sheppard, the signal… EDI said it was outdated and way off, like it's been signaled a long time and no one's ever bother to go check. We're going on blind here." He spoke quietly to the commander, who nodded in agreement; the place was _far too quiet_ for anyone to be at ease.

"EDI, status report; and I want a brief scan of this facility," Kale stated through the comm.-link, the AI chirping as it received the order. _"__This will take a while, Commander. My scans seem to be blocked, the core of this Cerberus facility has not been shut down, and firewalls seem to be intact. The sudden drop of temperature is also tampering with my comm.-signals.__"_ EDI's modulated voice sounded apologetic.

"It's okay EDI, just try to breach those firewalls ASAP. I want to know what Cerberus did here." The AI chirruped once more, and the commander turned off the link. Grunt sniffed the air and growled, even the krogan seemed disturbed. It was not a good sign.

"Alright, the facility is huge and we don't even know what's in store for us down there; the team will be split in to groups of three: Tali, Kaylin and Samara will be on the first level we see; Tali can hack through the networking frames as well as those firewalls;

Garrus, Kasumi and Thane will be scouting ahead, see those beams? You go upfront and tell me anything you see up there, Kasumi may be able to gather some tech information; Grunt and Miranda, on me. We'll take the lower levels."

The group nodded and dispersed at the wave of their commander's hand.

* * *

The facility's temperature was no better than the harsh winter storm raging outside, bitingly cold and Kale's teeth were starting to chatter even with Mordin's specially made heat-energy packs. "Bloody hell, 'almost-habitable' climate my arse," Kale muttered as the group of three moved on in the frost-laden halls of the facility, uncovering a few disturbing work logs on the way. The commander replayed the last work log, which showed a screaming man being injected with unknown serums and such, skin melting and steaming as they showed skin and bone. The scientists that surround the man seemed unfazed by the horrifying results.

Miranda looked away from that one, cursing with utmost fervor.

"This… The Illusive Man would never have allowed experiments like this! Even if he would, there's bound to be an explanation…" She trailed of uncertainly at the blood curdling scream emitted from the work log, face pale from the cold as well as . The commander merely shook his head in resignation, "There's nothing we can do and nothing we can deduct here. It's not the time to point fingers at who's right and wrong, let's move on." He said gruffly, nodding towards the metal door, which was stuck and wouldn't budge despite Tali's efforts on moving the gears through her Omni-Tool's console.

"_Bah! This **sci'oc'shca** of a firewall won't work! I'm sorry Sheppard; you have to open the door __**manually**__ this time."_ Kale chuckled at the pure venom laced in the word 'manual', the Quarian really didn't like it when machinery didn't see her way. He signaled at Grunt, whose grin showed rows and rows of sharp, needle like teeth as he crashed through the doorway, happy to finally vent his bored frustration.

EDI finally chirruped to signal she found something and the commander was far from pleased when the AI brought… Interesting information from the data Kasumi and Tali compiled towards his Omni-Tool.

"Miranda, has Cerberus ever approved on mutation related experiments?" The officer instantly looked surprised, "No, commander. Even if scientists were interested and filed numerous amounts of applications, the Illusive Man never approved of it. Why?" she asked, observing the grim face of her commander with wariness.

"Well," the door went down with a loud crash, "we're about to find out, officer. Get ready." Kale ordered, dread and fear of what they would find chilling him even further as he straightened his spine.

* * *

The stench of rotten blood and crystallized sweat was disgusting, Kale decided as he dodged another swipe, sharp claws narrowly missing his nose by inches as the animal growled.

"_Comm—and-! Commander! What the fuck are these things? Shi-"_ Garrus's static filled voice filled the comm.-link. The commander grimaced as he shot a few more rounds, shouting towards his Omni-tool, "Well, fuck if _I_ know that!**_ EDI_**! _Have you got that scan ready_?"

"_Sheppard, I have found some Cerberus files indicating that during the assault of the Collectors on your galaxy's Earth (No. 3271), Cerberus scientists from this particular branch kidnapped specimens of your human kind;_

_Mixing them with hybrid genes most likely distilled or extracted from any forms of wildlife; plant and animal form are most likely tested on subjects as well. The objective was to test the differences of your kind apart from the human race in this part of the galaxy. More accurately, what you would call... Rather famous human beings that are well known in your planet.__"_

Kale swore colorfully and kicked the animal-like hybrid away, feeling sorry for the whimpering animal as it banged on the wall. Shit.

Miranda paled even more as she heard this, "They've gone rogue. These… Dammit, Sheppard! This facility needs to be wiped from existence!" She hissed out whilst the krogan finished off a few more stragglers, looking angry and disgruntled. "These things, they scream, not out of pain. But anger. They cry for the voices in their heads. This facility smells of not only their blood, but the stench of chemicals and failed experiments. Sick." Grunt growled angrily, fist clenching his shotgun tightly.

The commander was silent as he bent down, the silver flash of a name plaque catching his eye. The animal hybrid had a name. "Christ," he breathed, he knows- _knew_ this thing, when she once human and beautiful…

The fucking thing was named 'Angelina Jolie'.

* * *

"_**What**__?"_

Kaylin's alarmed voice screeched through the comm.-link, causing Kale to wince in sympathy, he knew the medic always loved those actors and actresses from Hollywood. Well, _their_ Hollywood in a different timeline.

"Kaylin, _focus_. What do the scans and previous medical files I sent tell you?"

The medic was obviously shaken, her voice trembled as she spoke, _"__Names that we both know… Famous people… Lots of them, most of the experiments failed and the scientists abandoned the idea and the facility because… __**Dammit**__. That file is locked tight, Tali's working on it right now,"_

"How long will it take?"

"_Five minutes tops__'__, commander.__"_

"What else?"

"_There's one more building ahead of you, Garrus's report says they're clear above and their group is standing by on the beams above the bridge that links your level to the other building. _

_And… There's something else, something **big**, commander. Files don't show it but it caused a huge massacre through the numbers of subjects and scientists alike, but it's currently in a lock-down in the building ahead__…__Tha-That's all I have."_

"Alright, send me the files when you're done. Sheppard, out."

Kale gestured towards the other two to follow, the trio treading silently across the hallway; the thick smell of death and rot clogging their sinuses as they passed strewn bodies that littered everywhere, some looking gruesome and half eaten.

"Oh god, what happened here?" The officer looked sick as they passed by another blackened body, its owner's facial features contorted hideously. The building was a wreck: wires sparked with charges of electricity where they were ripped and shredded, recorded work logs replaying eerily with screens splattered with blood.

Suddenly, a bone-chilling howl suddenly sounded from no where, causing Kale to stop and scan the room carefully. Grunt cocked his shotgun with a loud click, "It's here. I can smell it." The tension in the room spiked sky-high.

The commander caught a flash of black fur, and dived towards the ground when a massive body sailed across the room, green eyes flashing in the darkness. His head was inches from being bitten off cleanly.

"Fuck!"

A wolf-hybrid in the size of a car was growling fiercely in front of them, green eyes filled with hatred and anger as its black fur blended into the shadows of the room. Grunt roared and shot at the wolf, grunting painfully when it leaped and kicked him away with its powerful hind legs, his body denting the metal wall as the krogan crashed into it.

The Cerberus officer thankfully didn't back down despite of what happened, the strong current of mass effect energy gathered in her hand as she slammed it on the wolf, instantly crushing one of its forearms. It howled in pain, charging blindly but deadly fast towards Miranda; after that display of biotics, she wouldn't have enough time to dodge the blow.

But Kale did being a Vanguard.

He slammed himself on to the wolf's body, his own wrapped in a brilliant flash of violet; both man and animal flew across the room in a flurry of fur and armor. But the wolf suddenly braced itself against the impact, violently shaking off the human as he was flung towards the wall with a sickening crack. Kale's eyes hazed with pain when he felt so much as heard his arm fracture, and he scrambled to get upright; his eyes snapping open with sudden revelation when he felt the cool metal of a name plaque under his scraped fingers. Well, call him crazy, but he was willing to take his chances.

And when the wolf snarled and pounced, the world slowing in to a stop when the human gazed at it calmly, his mouth wording the syllables in a faint whisper that was only meant for the wolf's keen ears.

"_Tom."_

* * *

Kale's eyes were fastened shut, his heart thudding heavily in his chest as he felt the damp breath of the wolf huffing in his face. Why wasn't he dog food yet? He wondered as he opened his eyes, only to stare straight at the animal's face. It seemed… Strangely docile, its eyes bright and seemed intelligent as it nudged Kale's face with a cold, wet nose.

The commander wrinkled his nose and tried to squirm away from the contact, being as uncomfortable as one would be when faced with a huge wolf with lots of very pointy teeth.

"Commander…" Miranda's voice was steady, but a faint tremor of shock still colored her voice. He flapped his hand weakly in her direction; _no shooting_. "I… I think I can handle this one." He rasped out, his throat dry and itching as fear clawed it, not daring to break eye contact with the beast as it nudged his throat.

"Your name's Tom Hiddleston, right?" _Please don't maul him_, Kale thought desperately. _The Thresher Maw back at Tuchanka was enough experience, thank you very much._

The wolf thankfully didn't maul him, instead giving a curt human-like nod and a slight growl that sounded very much like a '_yes_' to Kale. The commander didn't know which was even worse: the part where he nearly gets mauled by huge wolf or the part where he seemed to be talking with said wolf.

"This beast is strong... It would be a waste to kill it." Grunt muttered as he dusted himself of from the floor, he looked at the animal with weary respect as it growled menacingly at his direction. "_What?_ Commander, you're not thinking-" He glared at the Cerberus officer, who took the hint and shut her mouth with a tense click, her jaw set angrily. "We can debate about this later when I'm feeling better." Kale snapped at her, his mood souring every agonizing moment he tried to move his arm.

The commander tapped his bracer with his good arm, and linked with Garrus. "Status?" The turian didn't sound happy as he growled through the comm.-link, "I'm freezing my ass off. And that's fucking saying something Sheppard," a rumbling note sounded, "Krios here, me and Kasumi found something on the building you're at, we can't tell, but it is alive," the Drell was silent for a moment. "And apparently it is awakening as we speak."

The black wolf gave a scared whimper and scratched the floor with its ears flattened, its pupils dilated with fear as it looked at Kale. "_What's_ awakeni-?" A sudden loud roar came from the depths of the dark building, the vibrations shaking the walls as they all stared at the locked door.

"_That._" Thane stated quietly.

The commander swore and pushed himself up, his face solemn as he looked at the other two. "Tali, Kaylin and Samara will standby near the shuttle, Kasumi will accompany them as well, should anything happen we need you to get that ship up and running;

Garrus and Thane, see if you can find a way to that room, we'll meet you there."

"_Sheppard, the door is unlocked. The firewalls have successfully been breached_." EDI said as the doors slid open with an ominous hiss, causing the wolf to whimper softly.

"Well, big guy," Kale smiled ruefully, "as the saying goes, 'take me to your leader'."

* * *

_The Thresher Maw in Tuchanka seemed like nothing,_ Kale thought as he stared at the monster in horror, _compared to **this** big mass of oozing tentacle** ugly**_. It was even bigger, nearly five stories high and looked even worse than the Thresher Maw; the head of the monster was half human, a woman's torso stuck to a fat, worm like body that convulsed and twisted whenever it got shot. The woman's face looked eerily familiar.

"_Sheppard, **duck**!_" The slimy tentacle swung towards the commander, hitting him with full force as he was slammed on to the reinforced glass wall. The M-300 Claymore clattered on the ground as it dropped. Kale gritted his teeth against the pain as he heard his armor crack.

The turian immediately seized his commander by the back of his armor plating and dragged him to safety, shooting a few more rounds at the tentacled being. "Bullets _won't work_ on that fucking thing! It keeps regenerating itself!" He shouted over the noise of gun shots and the constant shrieks of the monster, pointing towards the bleeding wounds that were beginning to seal themselves quickly despite the teams efforts to shoot it down. It only made it angrier though, its shrieks louder and attacks more vicious as it tried to grab hold of one of the team.

Their attacks were starting to falter though for the whole team was exhausted and their thermal clips were depleting in an alarming rate.

There had to be some way to get rid of this abomination, Kale thought desperately, scanning the room quickly as his mind formed a plan. The wires surrounding them were obviously torn from the monster's constant movement, and the despite being having fast regeneration... "I've got an idea Garrus; you and Thane have to get your asses moving _as fast as you can_ though or this will all go downhill," the turian nodded, "good. Get Thane and start shooting at the monster's head, get him to use Pull; Miranda and me will attack on the front line."

Garrus nodded and moved quickly, him and the drell moving to hide themselves from the monster, they'd know where to shoot. Now it was just the matter of timing it _right_.

"Tom!" The snarling wolf immediately jumped towards his side, looking at him warily. "Think you can carry a human?"

The commander grabbed a hold of the animal's dark fur, trying his best to hold on as Tom leaped wall to wall, dodging the tentacles and globs of acid (_why the fuck did they think it was fun to make a **octopus-thresher maw hybrid** he did not know)_, "Miranda!" The Cerberus officer's voice sounded through the speaker of his Omni-Tool, "_What the bloody hell are you doing Sheppard?_"

"Remember the biotic training Samara gave us? The new techniques about mixin- _Shit, Tom!_" The wolf nearly fell when the monster's tentacles nearly crushed them both, causing Kale to lurch forward when the animal took a sharp dive.

"_Yes, I remember_."

"Okay, when I give you the signal, _do it_." Miranda gave a slow nod.

"You know what to do," The commander whispered in Tom's ear. The animal simply grunted in reply as he landed, letting Kale slide off before running off to bite the tubes that were connected to the monster's body; fluids that had kept the thing alive for so long destroyed as he tore them off. But the monster didn't pay any attention to him, its focus was disrupted by the krogan's constant shooting and the other two hidden elsewhere; their bullets trained on the human half of the creature. It gave an ear shattering roar as the pain grew.

"Let's just hope this works," Kale muttered to himself as he hefted the heavy weapon from his back, Mordin and Kaylin's latest research: the _M-920 Cain_, they called it. _"It's a nuke launcher. That's all you have to know."_ Zaeed looked green with envy when he spotted the gun.

The commander breathed and concentrated on the mass effect energy that surrounded him, his body glowing bright as the energy wrapped around him. He charged towards the krogan, who simply grabbed him by the body and hauled him upwards; a crater created beneath his feet as his commander used the borrowed strength to jump even higher along with his charging technique. He was finally at level height with the monster as the human face split to reveal sharp teeth and a gaping hole for a mouth.

(_Samara smiled at the panting human, "You did well. Remember, if you control that energy with a stable mind, you are able to use it longer before tiring; and if you or one of any biotics did successful biotic powers at the same time..."_)

"**_NOW!_**" Both drell and human biotic unleashed their attacks; Miranda using her warp while Thane using his pull field. Adding Kale's charge and the '_nova_'...

(_"...'Biotic explosion', caused by two different sources of biotic energy: one to provide as a source for the other to detonate."_)

And the upper half of the monster's body exploded with a loud 'pop', a rain of acrid smelling ooze and blood drenched the whole team; their commander getting the worst of it as he climbed out of the smoking half of the wilted body, rolling away quickly as it fell.

"... I think that went... _Rather stylishly_, right Sheppard?" Garrus smothered a laugh when the commander's face looked greener than the slime that was covered on his body.

Kale threw the deflated insides on the turian's face.

* * *

**A/N : It's honestly just a muse I'm tinkering here and there, this was just a scene in my head and it plagued me for days; I needed to write it out. Oh and please do read the notes before this chapter if you hadn't a clue what you're reading, okay? **

**No Angelina Jolies and Tom Hiddlestons were harmed in the making of this story.  
**

**But, I'm sure you must be wondering: _Why the hell did you put those people (AJ, TH) in there?_ Simple: They are _important_ to the story, they add the essential part to where _Sheppard's romance_ is concerned. I will elaborate more on that on the next chapter.  
**

**Constructive criticism and reviews are always well appreciated as they improve my writing. TQ.**


End file.
